Hose-coupling.



U. E. LOETZER.

HOSE COUPLING. APPLIOATION FILED 213.24, 190s.

Patented Apr. 27, 1909.

' aster.

have hitherto been constructed wherein the end of the hose is directly grasped and secured teeth or stepped fiexible hose-sections to UnITEn STATESPATENT OFFICE.

CHRISTIAN E. LOETZER, OF SAYRE, PENNSYLVANIA.

nosn-conrnme.

Application filed February 24,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN E. LOETZER, a citizen of, the United States, residing at Sayre, in the county of Bradford and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hose-Couplings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to detachable hosecouplings, and particularly to couplings for hose intended for use under heavy pressure, such as fire-hose.

The invention has reference more especially to the means of attaching the ends of the the coupling-heads.' Devices for this purpose are commonly known as hose-binders.

The binders for fire-hose must be exceptionally stron and secure, in order to withstand the pulhng strain caused by the internal pressure and prevent the hose from separating from its coupling-head-an accident which in service might result in grave dis- For this reason, fire-hose binders between an inner annular wedge or spreader and an outer binding-ring or nut having a threaded engagement with the couplinghead, the wedge having exterior annular abutments and the bindingmember or outer ring havin similar interior, teeth or abutments for engaging or embedding in the hose and insuring the retaining power of the binder. In practice suchdeviceshave proven very defective, first because of the difliculty of securing the end of the hose evenly between thewedge and outer binding,-

' ever, because of member or nut, since the screwing of the latter to the coupling-head has the tendency of bunching or buckling the end portion of the hose which is engaged and being drawn between" said wedge and nut; chiefly, howthe mutilation and wearof the hose, since the effect of the engagement of the teeth in the hose as it isengaged and compressed-between the wedge and nut is literally to'chew up the hose, especially its inner rubber lining, frequently to such an extent as to cause ru ture and allow leakage, while furthermore the great internal pressure in service, operating in con'unctionwith the abrupt ridges engaging the ose,

tends to cut Specification of Letters Patent.

and rupture the same,

longitu is an enlarged detail tegral nipple D,

hold within the hose.

Patented April 27, 1909.

1906. Serial No. 302,759.

so'that the hose is liable to breakage and even to se aration or blowing off from its coupling-hea Now the object of my invention is to produce in conjunction with a hose-coupling a perfectly efficient binding device, adapted to hold the hose to the coupling-head with absolute security, but without the slightest mutilation of the hose or its rubber lining, and moreover without materially stiffening and weakening the neck of the hose at its juncture with the coupling. These results are attained by means substantially as hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, Fi ure 1 is a inal section of a couplingead with the end of its hose section attached thereto by means embodying my invention, parts being broken away. .Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal vertical section .of the companion coupling and with the end of its hose section attached theretol Fig. 3 isa side view partly in section of the binding-nut. Fig. .4

-1s a side view of the splitfretaining-ring. F1g.

5 is an'-end or face view of said ring. Fig.

view 'of a fragmentary, section through the hosebind er.

- Thecoupling-he'ad A of Fig: 1 is adapted for detachable coupling to the compan1on coupling-head A of Fig. 2, the former couplinglie ad A'being a male-member ada te for en agement with the female coup ings leeve swiveledon the latter Otherwise the cou ling-heads are substantially alike, and t gether make the comp ete coupling for uniting the adjacent ends of the hose or pipe sections'C and C. Each coupling-head, A and A, has an inhead, adapted for insertion into the end of its hose section, 0 or'C. Said nipple I) is preferably slightly larger exteriorly than the inside diameter of the hose, enlarging or spreading the end 0 the hose. The nipple is also exteriorly provided with a continuous spiral groove;

the ose in the manner of a screw, also roviding closely arranged corrugations or a ternatin'g grooves or ridges forobtaining abetter However, these corru gations or grooves and-ridges are not such as for the urpose of,

member A.

0 following descri ti'on will apply to both coupling-heads, whic toas indicated at d, adaplting the nipple to be easlly worked into to bite, out or mar the hose, but the grooves and ridges are rounded, the grooves being moreover comparatively shallow, and are adapted to grip the hose interiorlywithout the slightest injury to the rubber linin The nipple is desirably inserted for its fill" length into thehose, the end of which may abut against the annular should er a of the couplinghead. Surrounding and clasping the hose around the nipple is a split elastic or ex ansiwhile the spiral arrangement of the grooves also facilitates the working of the ring onto the hose in the first instance and afterward back onto the end portion of the hose which is fitted on the nipple, the retaining-ring being provided with any suitable means whereby 1t can be firmly gras ed to screw it back and forth; as for examp e the peripheral depI6SSlOIlS shown in Fig. 5 which can be engaged by a s anner or similar device. The cross-cut e o the ring is preferably made on a pronounced bevel or non-radially, as shown "i whereby in the event of a complete contraction of the ring its beveled extremities may yet ride olppositely one upon the other to allow a sti further contraction if necessary, although, as a matter of fact, the

cut e is of such width that a full contraction of the ring would not usually occur in service.

A abutment or stop for the front end of the ring is afiorded by the annular shoulder a before alluded to. ring E is conoidal or tapered toward its rear eno. or as shown it may have a rear conoidal ion 6 providing an annular wedge or A binding-member or nut F is screwed on the coupling-head behind a flange 0 thereof, the threaded engagement between the nut and coupling-head being indicated by the symbol f. Like the retaining-ring, said bindin -nut is intended to be slipped over the en of the hose, before attachment thereof to the nipple of the coupling-head, also before placing the retainin -r1ng on the hose. Said 1nd1n nut F, wluc 1 oi course is larger internally t nm the outside diameter of the retaining-ring E, has a rearward internal conoidal or annular beveled with the bevel-e ter the nipple D is inserted in the hose, and the rin E is brought to )roper position to clasp t e end portion oi the hose around the nip le,-then the binding-nut F is moved forwar into engagement with the portionf coacting end of the Exteriorly said retaining-' of theretaining-ring. Af-

threaded portion of the cou ling-head, and as the nut is screwed home t iereon its interior bevelf rides upon the exterior bevel e of the ring E, so that the latter iscaused to contract and hug or grip the hose and clamp it absolutely around the nipple, the hose being moreover caught between the corrugations d and 6, so that there is no likelihood of separation of the hose from the coupling-head by reason of the pulling strain exerted on the hose by the internal pressure. At the same time, the end of the hose being already in place and engaged between the nipple and the elastic ring before contraction of the latter, and the screwing up of the nut having only the effect of contracting the ring so as to compress the hose around the nip'ple, the clamping of the hose is effected without injury thereto, such as is inevitably incident to the prior devices alluded to; while there is no tendency to' cut or mutilate the hose or its rubber lining between the coacting surfaces of the ring and nipple, and'hence the usual dan er of ruptureor even of blowing ofi of the hose at the neck of the coupling-head under high internal pressure is absolutely obviated. Moreover, since the ring E simply contracts around the, hose and compresses the same, the longitudinal movement of the nut while being screwed on to the couplinghead has no drawing or other effect upon the hose except to compress the same; thereby avoiding the usual fatal effects of buckling or bunching, fracturing and cutting, which inevitably result from drawing the end of the hose between the toothed surfaces of the usual wedge and outer binding-member in order to efiect engagement under compression It will be further noted that the retaming-ring Eis inwardly slightly flaring or beveled or tapered at its rear or outer end, as indicated at 6 This is to' produce a gradual compression around the neck of the hose so as to allow flexibility thereof and avoid the abrupt compression which is usual around the neck or at the juncture between the hose and hose-binder which both weakens and stifiens the hose to such an extent as to in crease the liability The nut F is shown having oppositely disposed I apertures f to receive a spanner wrench for screwing and unscrewing the same.-

The larger portions of the coupling-heads are formed with interior enl'ar e'd annular chambers or recesses A adapte to provide air-cushions around the stream of 'water flowing through the coupling, such cushions having the same beneficial efiect upon the stream as the air-chamber of a pump, making a smoother and stronger stream.

It will be understood of course that the in vention is susceptible of modification in details of construction and arrangement, and of embodiment in other forms or in connecof breaking or rupture. I

tion with other styles of coupling-members than those illustrated herein, so that I do not struction.

' Havin thus fully described my invention,

I what I c aim as new and desire to secure by nut contractin Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A hose-coupler comprising a couplinghead having an exteriorly screw-threaded boss and having also a nipple for insertion intothe end of a hose-section, a split ring having interior helical corrugations and having also an exterior bevel, and abinding-nut having an interior bevelsimilar to and adapted to coact with that of the split ring, the binding-nut having also interior screwthreads for engaging the threaded boss of the coupler head, the helical corrugations of the split ring enabling it to be screwed upon the hose. inward screwed back onto the .end hose which surrounds .the nipp e, the binding the split rin upon the hose to clamp the latterupon tire nip le, said ginding nut not moving the ring a ong the ose.

2 In a hose-coupler, a coupling-head having a nipple for insertion into the end of a hose-section, a split rin having a beveled exterior and having its from its end and afterward ortion of the ore formed with an outwardly flaring rear end, and a binding nut screwing to the coupling head and havin a beveled interior engaging said exterior ybeveled ring to contact the latter to clamp the hose upon the nipple, the flare of the split ring preventing abrupt compression of the hose.

3. In a hose-coupler, a coupling-head having a nipple for insertion into the end of a hose-section and provided with an exterior spiral-thread engaging said hose-end,'a split ring adapted to clamp the hose on said nipple and having a beveled exterior and having also an interior spiral thread adapted to approximately register with the spiral thread v of the nipple for a portion of its length, and a binding-nut screwing to the coupling-head and havin a beveled interior engagin said exteriorly heveled ring to contract the latter to clamp the hose between the nipple and ring, the split ring abutting thecoupling head to prevent a longitudinal movement of the ring during its contraction by the hindmg nut.

n testimony whereof I afiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

CHRISTIAN E. LOETZ ER.

Witnesses:

A. M. PARKINS, I Oseoon H. DOWELL. 

